Brown, other mayors call for national focus on curbing gun violence

"Gun violence is not just a Buffalo or New York State problem. It’s a national crisis,” Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown said. “There must be national solutions."

Complete coverage: 10 killed, 3 wounded in mass shooting at Buffalo supermarket

Brown was the host of a virtual meeting Tuesday with seven other mayors, as well as faith-based and community leaders, to discuss gun violence. The meeting came in the wake of a mass shooting in Buffalo on May 14 by a self-described white supremacist that left 10 people dead and wounded three others at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue. Authorities say the shooter chose the grocery store for his murderous rampage specifically because it is in a neighborhood with so many Black residents.

“This is not a local problem,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said. “The shooting that took place in Buffalo is no different than the shootings that take place on Buffalo Avenue in Brooklyn.”

They called for nationwide legislation to buttress local and state gun laws.

The renewed calls from the Democratic mayors for stricter federal gun laws come amid a stark partisan divide over the issue. In the days since mass shootings left 10 dead in Buffalo and 21 dead in Uvalde, Texas, leading Democrats, including President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer have all called for stricter federal gun laws. Most Republicans, meanwhile, have remained silent on gun control and instead have focused on other measures to prevent mass shootings such as increased access to mental health care and increased security at schools.

The Buffalo and Texas shootings, however, have pushed the issue to the forefront and provided some discussion for potential compromise. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell last week said he hoped a "bipartisan solution" could be found in the wake of the shootings.

On Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul, Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Carl Heastie announced that 10 bills have been introduced in the Assembly and Senate to tighten New York's gun laws. The bills would require information sharing between state, local and federal agencies when guns are used in crimes; make threatening mass harm a crime; require microstamping for new guns; increase accountability for social media platforms; eliminate grandfathering of large capacity ammunition feeding devices; prohibit the purchase of body armor for anyone who is not engaged in an eligible profession; strengthen the Red Flag law by expanding the list of people who can file for extreme risk protection orders, and other measures; require that an individual obtain a license, with a minimum age of 21, to purchase a semiautomatic rifle; and close the "any other weapon" loophole. 

The New York State mayors noted that the state already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, but gun violence continues to terrorize neighborhoods.

“We need help at the federal level. We have some of the strictest gun laws in the country, common sense gun laws here in New York state, and yet we have this pipeline of guns coming into our community," Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said. "Just last night, there was a drive-by shooting. Fortunately, the victim, it looks like they are going to survive, but the injury will stay with them."

Authorities recovered 17 shell casings from the shooting. Afterward, law enforcement pulled over the vehicle involved in the incident "where a 16-year-old was found with a gun magazine that can hold 15 bullets," Sheehan said. "We need to come together and have federal legislation that recognizes that the value of human lives needs to be acknowledged. We need that help. We cannot do this alone. I join my fellow mayors in saying we need Congress to act.”

“Common sense gun laws can’t just be passed on the state level, but they have to be passed on the national level. We have to do something about it," said Shawyn Patterson-Howard, mayor of Mount Vernon.

“We’re actually the Blackest community north of the Mason-Dixon line," she added. "And it was very sobering. It was terrifying that we were on the short list of the Buffalo shooter.”

The response to gun violence in urban, suburban and rural areas in the country should be similar to responses to natural disasters, Rochester Mayor Malik Evans said.

“When there’s a hurricane or natural disaster, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) comes in," Evans said. "We have this whole community approach, where everybody comes in together and tries to solve this natural disaster. Gun violence should be no different. In every level of government, every single organization needs to come together and try to do what we can to stop this occurrence that we continue to see in our country and in our cities.”

Other propositions from the meeting included adding more agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to conduct background checks and gun tracing; enacting legislation that treats ghost guns as actual guns; and giving more support and attention to local crisis management teams, mental health care and services.

Legislation at the federal level is needed and should include universal background checks, safe gun storage and the banning of bump stocks and ghost guns, said Linda Beigel Schulman, whose son Scott J. Beigel was murdered in the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, Fla., in 2018. It was also the day her daughter was born.

“As you can imagine, it was one of the happiest days of my life and also the worst day of my life,” she said.

The event Tuesday was held to mark June as Gun Violence Awareness Month in New York State.

“It is outrageous that we have to designate a day for gun violence awareness, let alone a month, but we do," Schulman said. "We have to keep up the fight and make our streets, homes, schools, places of worship and businesses safe from gun violence.”

Other speakers included Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino, Dunkirk Mayor Wilfred Rosas; Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano; George Latimer, Westchester County executive; Paul Thomas, pastor of Buffalo AME Church; and anti-gun violence advocate K. Bain, founder and executive director of community capacity development.